I'd rather be having a quiet drink... and can be followed on Twitter @alcothusiast; and friended on Untappd (handle: "neilcake" - all welcome).

Friday, 5 June 2015

Aldi vs Lidl: I'm trying these so you don't have to

Let’s get up to date now on what’s been going
on in the long running and ongoing Aldi vs Lidl saga, with a few
products I’ve been trying of late. First up, Cocobay…

I didn’t get around
to writing about it at the time, but a while ago I found that I like popular
coconut flavoured, rum liqueur Malibu – I normally mix it with coke; it’s just
a good thing to add a bit of an alcoholic kick to a soft drink on a hot day
when you don’t have any beer in the fridge – though I like to add a measure of
vodka, too – just to make it worthwhile.

The thing is, Malibu
is generally too expensive (£12-16 depending where you shop and when) in my
opinion so… it’s almost like… you need a cheap alternative… and that’s where
the budget supermarkets come in – Aldi in this case where, for a fantastic
£4.99 you can pick up… Cocobay. It’s
21%, and worth adding to how ever many feet of Aldi shopping you’ve got already
– are we the only people who measure our Aldi shop in feet?

You’re never going
to drink this straight, but when I did, I can report that it wasn’t offensive,
and when mixed, as described previously, there was no discernible difference
between this and the real thing – which means you’d be mad not to buy it.

7/10

Switching genre now, with a trip to Lidl for
the Romanetti Extra Dry Vermouth…

One of the things
I’ve noticed during the course of this ongoing Aldi-Lidl comparison is that
Aldi’s products almost all state “bottled for Aldi” on the label (Clarke’s bourbon
being a notable exception) while none of Lidl’s state anything to that effect.

Lidl’s Romanetti
Extra Dry vermouth is another brand that strikes me as being made up in order
to sound Italian. Is it actually from Torino? I’ve seen pictures online that
state so on the label, but mine just says “producto de Italia” or something. On
the reverse label it says it is made in Italy, but bottled in Germany. Come to
think of it; aren’t all Lidl’s products actually bottled in Germany? Except the
scotch. That’s one to look into… This one in all honesty looks the part. It has
that generic vermouth presentation style, just… a little bit shitter. Let’s see
what it’s like inside.

This has an odd
aftertaste, but once the ice takes hold, it does exactly what I want it to –
which frankly extends no further than give me a slightly refreshing fortified
wine buzz. It is probably the worst [actual] vermouth I’ve bought so far [so Bellino isn’t included in this reckoning], but at £3.99 for 15 ABVs it would be picky
to complain. All you can really ask for is not to get poisoned so, Lidl,
mission accomplished. The thing is, a product of this standard isn’t going to
win anyone over to the delights of vermouth so, with that in mind, next time I
think I’m going to have to buy a decent one. It’s just hard to justify the
price when you only get 70cl and it costs the same as (what I consider to be)
an expensive bottle of wine (as decent vermouths do). It’s essentially only
four glasses you’re getting for your money, after all.

4/10

And it’s back to Aldi for this week’s final
contestant; Specially Selected Irish Cream (17% ABV)

This seems to fit
into exactly the same category as Aldi’s Ballycastle
Premium, and it’s the same price (£6.49) so I’m not sure why they are
offering two almost (if not) identical products. The bottle is the standard
Irish Cream type and the label looks like something that’s been stolen from the
Tesco’s Finest range.

Without doing a
direct comparison with the Ballycastle Premium, I think they’re essentially the
same product. There’s certainly nothing here to make me think it is inferior in
any way to the established favourite. Superb value, plenty of ABVs, excellent
quality.

9/10

So where does that
bring the head to head comparison? Well, we’ve now evaluated 11 Aldi products
and only 3 from Lidl. I really must remedy that shortly. Nevertheless, Aldi is
averaging a pretty good 6.6 out of ten, while Lidl is still struggling to
recover from that -10 that James Cookis responsible for, and sits on a
depressing zero.

Check back over the
previous posts if you want to find out about the other products I’ve tried so
far, and keep coming back for further updates. I’ll compile everything
eventually – once I’ve tried an equal number of comparable products from each.
In the meantime, keep it cheap, keep it strong.

Definitions

What happens when you zone out after having had a cheeky lunchtime pint.

Alcothusiast:

Not an alcoholic, someone who appreciates booze.

Anxiety, The:

The uneasy feeling that accompanies any noteworthy hangover.

Booze Buffet Mentality:

The propensity people have to go nuts whenever there's a free bar.

Booze Porn:Photos of alcohol.

Bread Chest:Not booze related, but this term describes the indigestion you get from eating too many bread products too quickly. Just putting it out there...

Crawler's Block:The inability to decide where to go next during a pub crawl - often resulting in crawl stagnation and someone saying, "shall we just have another one here?"

Crawl Stagnation:The result of failing to plan a pub crawl sufficiently - lack of a route, theme or over-familiarity with nearby pubs can all be contributing factors.

Excess Induced Alcohol Aversion:An intolerance for a drink caused (usually) by one occasion of overindulgence.

The Family:My whisky collection.

MOMA:

Moment of Maximum Appreciation. Every bottle has one. It's the time you drink it where you enjoy it most.

Old Man Pub:Traditional British pub, renowned for being quiet, cosy and frequented by old men. Much favoured by people who like a nice chat while they drink.Psychological Drinks Cabinet:Collective term relating to the kinds of alcoholic drinks a person has need for.Road Beers:

Cans of beer that you take with you when you go out, to consume on the way.

The 3 Types of Rum:White, gold and dark. Together they form the base of many a great cocktail.

About Me

Neil Cake is interested in all types of booze, but is by no means an authority or expert. Most of the time he's just trying to be funny, but he is learning, and enjoys sharing his adventures and what he learns on the Drink it How You Like it blog.
Thengyuverrymuuuuuch.